CUSTOMS DUTIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1919, Page 6

CUSTOMS DUTIES.

COMPARATIVE RETURNS. - I By Telegraph.—Press Association, Wellington, Last Night. The Minister for Customs supplies the following information regarding customs and excise beer duty collected per head of population during each calendar year for the last ten years:—

It will be observed, said Mr. Myers, that the Customs revenue per head shows a gradual advance from 1909 to 1913, due to the increase in value of imports, which in 1809 were valued at £15,074,719, and in 1913 at £22,288,302. Owing to the disturbing influence of the war on trade generally the imports decreased in 1914 and 1915, and as a conSequence the customs revenue for those years also shows a decrease. The year 1918, however, was a record one for customs collections, the rise in prices for imported goods and the increased rates of duty, which included primary duty imposed by the Finance Act, of 1915, being responsible. In 1917 further increases were made in the customs tariff. The extra duties collected per head as a result of the altered rates compared with the total customs revenue per head are: 1913 (pre-war year). £3 0s fid, —; 1914, £2 19s. —; 1915, £2 15s Bd, Is sd; 1910, £3 6s 9d, 7s 9d; 1917, £2 18s lOd, 0s; 1918, £3 2s Od, 14s 7d. It will be seen, continued Mr. Myers, that the average annual customs revenue for the last four years has kept up to pre-war level, the average per head for 1915-10 being about £3 Is, as against £3 09 Od for 1913. The excise beer duty increased by about 100 per cent, in 1918,, compared with the prewar years, due almost entirely to the increase in the . rate of duty from 3d to nearly 6d per gallon.

' ! j ■ >• Custom,?. Beer Duty. £ S. d. s. d. MOD , .... 2 11 7 2 3 15)10 . ... 2 1G 4 2 3 1911 ■ ..., 2 19 0 2 3 1012 . ... 3 0 7 2 3 1913 ■» :>v 3 0 0 • 2 2 1914 2 19 0 2 4 1915 2 15 8 2 4 Jl)l« , ■..« 3 0 9 3 3 1917 » 2 18 10 3 10 1918 „ ,,w 3 2 6 4 6